What's cold got to do with it?

Day 1 is done!

The first day of the congress finally arrived and was over before we even knew it. Photo by Guilherme Costa.

Here are some bits and pieces that made yesterday a great start to the congress.

It was an intense moment when Denmark, the Netherlands and Finland faced off in the slowest bike race ever! Pekka Tahkola of Finland won with 2:10. Photo by Simon Fessard.

During his presentation about the role of bicycles in the aftermath of extreme weather events, ECF’s Berhard Ensink asked the audience to “Think about what cycling can deliver,” giving examples such as a cycle-powered backup generators for houses and asking how bike-share systems might be reconfigured to function without electricity so healthcare and other emergency workers can travel in the aftermath of an emergency.

Timo Perälä, President of the Winter Cycling Federation and organiser of Winter Cycling Congress Oulu explained the goal of all the winter cycling discussion is to keep the earth cool. Photo by Guilherme Costa.

Rij2op5 or “Ride two out of five” is the name of a public-private project in Leeuwarden in which the city and employers work together targeting motorists and encouraging them to try bike commuting. The City now has 5 park and ride locations for commuters coming from the suburbs. 50 companies are participating taking actions like loaning out e-bikes for trial periods. ING Bank recently reduced car parking and added bike parking so they can accommodate 450 bikes. It was also interesting to learn the typical bike commuter in Leeuwarden travels 7.5 kilometres one way to work.

Many many interesting maintenance ideas were discussed, including cyclist-initiated research in which users take photos of their experience for a month. Pekka Tahkola, bicycle coordinator from Oulu thinks of winter maintenance as belonging to three distinct phases of winter, including early, mid and late winter.

Delegate bikes are available for use during the three days of the congress. Photo by Simon Fessard.

We’ll keep posting highlights here and on social media. Thanks for checking in on #wcc15!

WCC 2015 Leeuwarden

Official blog of the 3rd international Winter Cycling Congress uniting hearty souls from communities of all climates, sizes and levels of bicycle development who share the ambition to make two-wheeled travel normal, even when the snow flies. Register by 1 Feb.: http://bit.ly/1B3hXll